(a) Field
Exemplary embodiments of the invention relates to a liquid crystal display.
(b) Description of the Related Art
An liquid crystal display (“LCD”) is one of the most widely used types of flat panel display, and the LCD typically includes two panels provided with field-generating electrodes, such as pixel electrodes and a common electrode, and a liquid crystal (“LC”) layer interposed between the two panels. The LCD displays images by applying voltages to the field-generating electrodes to generate an electric field in the LC layer that determines the orientations of LC molecules therein to adjust polarization of light incident thereto.
Among the LCDs, a vertical alignment (“VA”) mode LCD, in which longitudinal axes of LC molecules are arranged perpendicular to the panels in the absence of an electric field, is spotlighted because of its high contrast ratio and wide reference viewing angle. Here, the reference viewing angle refers to a viewing angle at which a contrast ratio is 1:10 or a luminance inversion limit angle between grayscales.
In the VA mode LCD, a method of realizing a difference in transmittance from various directions by dividing one pixel into two sub-pixels and applying different voltages to the two sub-pixels by lowering a voltage of one pixel has been suggested to allow side visibility to be substantially close to front visibility. Particularly, among the method of realizing the difference in transmittance by dividing one pixel into two sub-pixels and applying the different voltages to the two sub-pixels by lowering the voltage of one pixel, a method of dividing the data voltage has been suggested.